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Harold Cramer was honored by the Philadelphia Bar Association with the Bar Medal at its annual meeting in December 2003. The award, which is given by the Association for contributions "to the justice system or the community in a manner that is sustained, obviously extraordinary and worthy of emulation," recognizes Harold for his many years of service to the Jenkins Law Library, the central law library for the legal community in Philadelphia. "Jenkins," as the library is commonly known, has served as the designated repository for certain rare legal treatises and reference works as well as a working law library for many lawyers from large and small firms alike. Harold has been an active advocate of ensuring that Jenkins continually provides state-of-the-art information services systems at a time of rapid development and ongoing change. Philadelphia Bar Chancellor Audrey C. Talley recognized Harold as "one of the driving forces" behind the success of Jenkins as "the premier institution in our legal community" during the award presentation.

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J. Denny Shupe received the 2003 Defense Research Institute (DRI) Community Service Award for his active leadership as president of the USO of Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey (Liberty USO) and related organizations. DRI is the primary national and international association of lawyers, insurance companies and corporations (including members of the Fortune 500) concerned with the defense of civil actions. DRI presented Denny with the award at its annual meeting in October 2003. The DRI Community Service Award honors a member whose "unselfish actions in community and/or public service have demonstrated an active and outstanding commitment to the improvement of the social and/or cultural well-being of the general public." Denny, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who took a leave of absence from his legal career to volunteer for pilot duty during the Persian Gulf War, is in his second term as president of Liberty USO and also serves as chair of the USO Affiliate Council, a representative body of all USO chapters throughout the United States. Under his tenure as president, Liberty USO opened a new military support center at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey and distributed more than half a million dollars of care packages for troops deployed overseas from Pennsylvania and New Jersey through the "Operation USO Care Package" program, as well as co-hosted an appreciation event in September 2003 for 5,000 armed forces personnel and family members of McGuire AFB. Through his work with Liberty USO and on committees such as the Army/Navy Host Committee and the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots programs, Denny has affected the lives of men and women in the armed forces stationed both in the United States and overseas.

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In October 2003, Samuel W. Silver was selected as one of the winners of "The Lawyers on the Fast Track" award by The Legal Intelligencer and Pennsylvania Law Weekly (publications of American Lawyer Media, Inc.). The statewide competition recognizes rising leaders of the legal profession in Pennsylvania under the age of 40, as nominated by their peers. Nominees were cited for distinction in fee work, pro bono and others areas and were evaluated in four categories: development of the law, advocacy, community contributions and service to the Bar. Sam was recognized for a variety of achievements, including his successful first-chair trial experience in a number of civil cases and his pro bono successes, which include two victories in three years in which he led Schnader teams in reversing unjust death sentences imposed in Pennsylvania. Sam was also acknowledged for his service to the bar as co-coordinator of the Prisoner Civil Rights Panel of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In this role, Sam manages a program in which private firm lawyers willing to handle pro bono civil rights matters are appointed to do so in selected cases by the court.

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In June 2003, Community Legal Services presented Dennis Suplee with its Equal Justice Award at its 2003 "Breakfast of Champions," in honor of his commitment to equal access to justice and public service. Dennis was the CLS Bar Campaign Chair for two years running (2001 and 2002) and made 2002 a record fund raising year for CLS. In his presentation to Dennis, Joseph Tate (a Schnader alumni) spoke of the inspiration of Bernard Segal that contributed to such a strong pro bono commitment at Schnader. CLS was founded in 1966 by leaders of the Philadelphia Bar Association to provide free civil legal assistance to low-income Philadelphians and is nationally recognized as a model legal services program.

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In June 2002, Judith F. Olson was elected Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Allegheny Division of the American Heart Association.

With more than four million volunteers, the American Heart Association is the largest voluntary health organization fighting heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. The organization aims to reduce coronary heart disease, stroke and risk by 25 percent by the year 2010. A member of the Board for several years, Ms. Olson is also the co-chair of the Allegheny Division's Pediatric Committee.

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In November 2002, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania saluted James D. Crawford at its 21st Annual Defending Freedom Dinner; at the end of the year, he stepped down after serving for more than 15 years as its President. As the ACLU put it: "With Jim's guidance, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has become one of the largest ACLU affiliates in the country and one of the outstanding public interest law firms in this state. During the years spent under his leadership, the ACLU of Pennsylvania has excelled in the defense of a variety of civil liberties issues."

The ACLU also paid tribute to Schnader, noting that Jim and his colleagues have partnered with the ACLU in many key projects over the years, citing as an example the role of a Schnader team, led by Jim and Carl Solano, in preparing the first-ever brief on CD-ROM to be lodged with the Supreme Court of the United States. The amicus brief was part of the ACLU's successful challenge to portions of the Communications Decency Act that would have had a chilling effect on various kinds of artistic, educational and other legitimate speech on the Internet. (In March 2003, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated a successor statute, the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), for similar reasons, again citing extensively to an amicus brief drafted by Schnader lawyers.)

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